Any reason to expect they wouldn’t? He didn’t say it was human (or even Terrestrial) DNA.
If we found extraterrestrial life, I’m guessing popular parlance for whatever DNA analog it had would still call it DNA.
Pacific Rim Training:
To be a Jeagermeister, you have to be the best of the best of humanity, and we’ll put you to the test. You must be in top physical condition and a master of combat. You must be a genius that knows the Jeager systems inside and out. You must pass through rigorous simulations and score perfectly.
And, most importantly, you must be able to ‘slide’ with your partner with your thoughts linked as one, which will only be tested once in your life, when we put you into a fully armed Jeager with the fate of the world in balance knowing that many people fall apart under such conditions.
moriah; I do believe that Mako mentions that she’d done a ton of simulated missions, all of which she passed with flying colors.
But they hadn’t tested Mako and Raleigh’s slide compatibility other than they did the stick test fight thing and thought they would work well as partners. It seems there should have been some simulation thing for them to do together, rather than getting in a Jaeger, since the first time they did she almost blew up the building. Or maybe they’re in the Jaeger head but it’s not attached to anything and can’t control anything, then that might have worked.
I loved the Russian team’s reaction to finding themselves on the pointy end of a plasma cannon. Shrug, and walk out of the way.
They have clearly seen worse in their day.
I think the reason they needed to “drift” in the real Jaeger was that they were calibrating with it. And of course everyone knows that you can’t do that in a simulator. Or disconnect the weapons. Then it wouldn’t be the same as the real thing, and you wouldn’t want to risk that.
</handwaving>
If the simulations included sliding, then why was her memory of the Kaiju when she was a child so traumatic? This had to be her first slide. Raleigh was giving her tips about it… you don’t do that to someone who’s done it before. Which brings me to…
Pacific Rim Onslaught of… Ordinary?.. Memory!
So, when she first slided, Mako becomes obsessed of a traumatic event in her past… which was in no way some sort of repressed memory or something not dealt with. When Marshal lets her know she can pilot, he sends Mako her shoe she dropped during the Kaiju attack. She knew what it meant. That would have brought up that painful memory at that moment. Mako has clearly been dealing with this memory her whole life. So… why would the invading memory and mind of someone else make it seem like she was unlocking a repressed memory? It would have made more sense for Raleigh to follow that memory and become entranced by it.
Aw, you poor thing. Keep throwing stuff at the wall; surely something will stick.
Mako has been dealing with that memory all of her life. This time she has Raleigh in her head, too, for the first time. Maybe a little bit different… which is the entire point of Raleigh’s advice in that scene just before they drift.
And they had to throw Mako and Raleigh into the Jaeger together for their first drift because they had no time; the double event was coming soon. Which was the entire point of that scene with the German scientist explaining the math.
And the point of Raleigh sparring with the other contenders was to figure out which of the contenders he was compatible with – Mako already knew how they all ranked in combat. Which was the entire point of that scene, and the scene with Raleigh and Stacker that follows.
You do realise you are trying to nitpick a movie that is unashamedly about big robots punching big monsters?
You could point out plotholes and nonsense all day, so could I, but the fact is that nobody really cares. Nobody wants to see Mako and Raleigh spending weeks together bonding before getting bringing the big Robot to a deserted wasteland for their first practice run, they just want them to get in the Robot and start punching monsters.
This movie is chock full of nonsense and plotholes, I get the impression it revels in them, its a bit silly to worry about them even a little.
No, no, moriah is raising some excellent points.
Along the same lines, I’d like to offer some feedback on The Wizard of Oz, a movie even dumber than Pacific Rim. There are too many problems to cover them all, so I’ll just talk about one: the scarecrow.
Set aside the obvious impossibility of a scarecrow getting up and singing and dancing, we’ll pretend for a moment that’s remotely plausible*. So here we are, supposed to believe that the scarecrow needs a brain. Well, Dorothy, if you had a brain yourself, you’d see two problems straight off the bat.
First, whatever eldritch powers that animate the scarecrow have obviously already gifted it with an intelligence roughly analogous to that provided by a brain. It can walk, dance, talk, sing, and reason. Its basic complaint is verbalized in the contrapositive subjunctive, for crying out loud. Obviously it has no need of a brain.
Second, even if it did get a brain, what a disaster that’d be! Scarecrows lack circulatory systems, and without blood to nourish the brain, the brain would quickly die and begin to rot, attracting all sorts of maggots and stinking to high heaven. It would almost immediately become a liability.
I simply cannot see how people can enjoy watching such a dumb movie.
- Don’t get me started on the fact that it’s obviously not a scarecrow, but rather some creepy guy who’s painted his face and stuffed straw in his sleeves and then waited for a girl to come along the road to talk to. His motivations are obvious and horrifying.
On reflection, I can see Newton announcing that he had isolated the kaiju’s genetic material.
Pentecost “So you have a sample of their DNA?”
Newton “No. it’s not DNA, but a (technobabble organic chem gibberish) that is an analogue of terrestrial DNA.”
Pentecost “Just call it DNA. We all know what that means.”
Newton "But it’s really. . . "
Pentecost “Stop that. Now. And get back to work.”
Now you all sound like Star Wars fans explaining how Han’s use of ‘parsec’ was not a mistake at all. 
You know, you can like the movie and still think it’s pretty stupid that throwing a swimming sea monster into the sea two body lengths away is a move that would do actual harm.
And what’s up with Glenda who knew that Dorothy could go home at any time but didn’t tell her but instead sends her to a Wizard she must know is a big quack?
‘Glinda’
Not ‘Glenda.’
Your grasp on phyiscs is as tenuous as your understanding of the movie. How far do you think a “two [kaiju] body lengths” fall is?
Whereas you sound like someone who hates Casablanca because nobody in real life talks that way without any “ums” or stammers.
I’m not explaining away the silliness of the movie; I’m suggesting that criticizing the movie for that silliness is itself bizarre.
You mean for a creature that can withstand rocket blasts?
To me, there are two broad categories nitpicks:
-
Nitpicking that something in the movie does not make sense within the framework of the reality created by the movie. To me, these are the more legitimate kind and may reflect slopping writing, editing, directing, etc. An example of this, to me, is the EMP-like blast taking out all the other jaegers except the one that is “analog” even though we’ve seen it be operated by computers repeatedly. And the EMP-like blast also took out other analog electronic system.
-
Nitpicking because you don’t agree with the rules of the reality defined by the movie. Often done in comparison with our reality. Yes, creating giant robots in response to invasion by giant monsters is stupid…in our reality. But the reality of the universe created by the movie is one where that was a logical response.
That may be compelling or not, but it isn’t a flaw. It may be possible to make a great movie involving three-legged unicorns that poop cinnamon-flavored Jolly Ranchers and the world will end if one ever poops a brocolli-scented Mike & Ike. The ridiculousness of the premise compared to our reality is not a flaw. It may not be a good movie, but it isn’t a flaw.
That would be the same creature damaged by being punched, yes?
Don’t forget #3: nitpicking the rules of the movie’s reality in comparison to our reality – and not understanding our reality’s rules.
E.g., thinking that throwing a 600 ton critter ~400 ft isn’t going to hurt it, when robot punching does. (Although there’s probably a “water is soft” fallacy in there, too.)
Although, really, the physics of Pacific Rim are so whacked out, it’s like complaining about Loony Tunes physics – do they even have a square cube law? what the heck is going on with their gravity that Otachi can not only fly, but carry a 1000 ton robot into orbit while doing so?
Frankly, Pentecost’s plan should’ve been to drop a big anvil onto the next coyote/kaiju that came through.
Pentecost: I blow up a nuclear bomb in your face!
Slattern: Nuh-uh!
Pentecost: sigh. Fine. I drop an anvil on you. Meep Meep.